I'll add a vote to the find a good instructor crowd. Our handicap is the same, however, I couldn't be happier with where my game is headed. I started taking lessons earlier this season and we've been slowly rebuilding my entire swing. As others have mentioned, it takes a fair amount of work and it's only been recently that I've started to see the results on the course but it's been well worth it. Certainly there are many folks out there who are great players and have never had lessons but I learned pretty quickly that I'm terrible at self-diagnosing my swing flaws and when I tried all I did was introduce new problems and/or make the old problems worse.

I'd also add that, if its doable for you, once you find an instructor you mesh with, sign-up for a series of lessons (I was going every other week early on, now stop in monthly to make sure old habbits don't creep back in). For me, I'm not sure one lesson would have been as beneficial since I had so many issues and it wasn't like I just needed to change one thing. The multiple lessons helped since I was able to slowly work on each aspect of my swing, practice it on my own at the range, and then build on it at the next lesson.

Good luck!!!

I'm totally in the same boat. I've had a few lessons the past few months and the number of disaster shots is way, way down. A lot of what I've learned to do in getting better is just missing better. I've made note of how I miss on the range and the course and realized most of my misses were short and left. Other than a sliced tee shot towards the end of a round because my mechanics are lazy, I've mostly taken the right side out of play, so I've learned to make a note of bail out areas and such to play for that. I've also worked on less than full shots with irons to practice for getting out of trouble or adapting to conditions like high wind, which has been a problem lately playing late in the day. I spent my entire range session hitting 3/4 irons shots and punches because I know I'll need them because we have lots of trees and lots of wind (lately). I'm just learning to own my game and I'm really happy with where I'm going. I've neglected my short game the past few months and that strength has turned into a weakness from that lack of practice, and that's where I've lost a ton of strokes. Chips / pitches that end up just out of confident 1-putt range, lousy lag putts that turn into 3 putts, overreading break on slow greens, etc. It's fixable with practice. So the takeaway, if there is one, is focus on what's good and work to correct / have the tools available to fix what's bad. I was worried about skulling a sand wedge because I had to carry a bunker onto a green, so I decided to take a lob wedge and hit it softly, knowing I could make good contact. Learn to avoid mistakes when you're worried about them.

First off your still basically new at this game even at 3 years into it, I think one of the obvious problems is you do what just about every golfer and especially newer golfer does is expect to play every hole as well as you happen to play 1 or 2 holes in a 9 hole round. Fact is the birdies and pars and even saved bogeys are the anamoly of your golf game and not the consistent product. We just think when we make a good score on a hole that there should really be no reason why that can't happen all of the time or at worst most of the time. The sad truth is those good scores no matter how much we don't want to admit it are the flukes of our game the doubles and triples and worse for newer players are the norm. This game if you stick at it the right way is a slow transformation that over time you will start to notice the difference in your scores, at first more rapid and as you get better it slows down and by the time you reach single digits it's basically a crawl in most cases, and in a lot situations you can see regression I was down to 4.3 a couple years ago and may have to accept that as being the best I'll ever be but I'll still keep at it probably till I die to be honest. You really need to hit the reset button and go about this with a long term outlook versus wanting results immediately it will just set you up for more frustration than enjoyment. I agree with others on here about finding an instructor and if you want to go about it with a more wait and see approach go to some clinics that some pros put on and see if you find someone you may want to work with.

What if you simply lose interest or choose to allocate time to other things? I've got to the point of golf burnout. Last weekend I stayed home because I decided to work around the house rather than golf, turned down three offers from friends. This week I don't have any golf planned and I'm getting ready to start a small remodel project. I won't be surprised if I take the rest of the summer off. Something changed, my drive to golf has subsided significantly recently and I just got back into it after a very long time away in 2012.

What if you simply lose interest or choose to allocate time to other things? I've got to the point of golf burnout. Last weekend I stayed home because I decided to work around the house rather than golf, turned down three offers from friends. This week I don't have any golf planned and I'm getting ready to start a small remodel project. I won't be surprised if I take the rest of the summer off. Something changed, my drive to golf has subsided significantly recently and I just got back into it after a very long time away in 2012.

I think that's a bit different than the OP and totally standard for a lot of people, and most of us do something like that I'm sure.

I guess from my perspective, in terms of the OP's situation, golf is a totally maddening game of ups and downs (mostly downs) that I have to manage or it can get the better of me sometimes. But the good days are just so darn enjoyable, I keep coming back and doing what I can to eek out improvements here and there each year.

I've gone to clinics for 5SK where the drills were so challenging, I knew getting better would take a lot of grinding and humble hard work. My love for the game is truly tested during the hard times, but I always seem to come through it in the end, despite the seemingly endless struggles. I guess being a long time reader of this site, and knowing a lot of golfers in real life now, I know the brutality of the game is nearly universal. It often doesn't seem that way, especially when watching the leaders smoke a course at a PGA Tour event, but it basically is. The old cliche that the grass is always greener on the other side of the lawn rings true for golf I think. I have to remind myself it's a war of attrition for almost all of us, and also... it's just a game. Smile more, self.

Oh yea, and OP, like others have said. Keep looking for the right instructor. Do your research first though to save yourself some $.

And the good news here is when you score a 55, you have so much room for improvement that you have to be aware of right now. The right instructor can make you so much better provided you listen well and put in a couple hours each week following his plan.

First off, only you can tell whether you want to put in the effort to improve at golf. You have to want to do it because it is hard, but that's part of the fun of it for those who learn to love the game. I'm guessing that you don't really want to quit or you'd just do it rather than post to a forum like this, so the rest of my comments will assume that you'd like to go ahead and improve.

A lot of what I say here has already been said in one way or another, but some things need to be repeated several times to gain validity. GET PROFESSIONAL LESSONS if at all possible. And spend more time on a driving range and putting/pitching/chipping green than on golf courses of any length. There are several good discussions of practice strategies on this forum, the search function is your friend. When practicing on the range, it is vital that you pick a target to hit toward for each and every shot and that you equate the amount you miss that target by to what would happen on the golf course. Thus, if you're hitting a driver and end up ten or fifteen yards to one side or another you might still be in the fairway, but on the side you would prefer not to be on. However, if you are ten to fifteen yards off with an 8 iron you just missed the green. In my humble opinion, accuracy beats distance for most shots in golf. Get a set of alignment sticks to practice with, if you don't want to spend the money for fiberglass versions from a golf shop, get wooden dowels from Home Depot, just so they are straight. Lay them out so they are pointed toward your target and practice looking at the correct "sight picture" they help you set up to the target. Don't just line up to them and fire away, pay attention to what you are seeing in relation to your intended target when you are set up right!

Which leads to the problems you report from your last round. Unless I'm very mistaken, it sounds like you are just plain trying to crush the ball in a lot of the instances you report and may not be getting aligned right in others and it isn't working out well at all. That is what's causing silly things to happen like nearly (or not so nearly) missing the ball all together with woods and knocking the ball off in unexpected directions with short irons. Ease up and smooth out your swing. Learn to align you shots. On the course, as on the range, it is critical that you pick a target that you are hitting to. Your pro that you're going to take lessons from will help with this. Then practice on the range until it comes naturally. Golf is a game of finesse. Great golfers can finesse the ball powerfully, but you can be a good golfer if you can finesse the ball as appropriate for the shot at hand. If the other guys are hitting 9 irons but you feel like you need to use a 7 to finesse the ball onto the green, who cares! The object is getting on the green and sinking the putt.

To recap: get lessons, not one or two, but plan on a series to begin with then periodic visits to the pro going forward. Most of the tour pros visit their "swing coach" on a pretty regular basis. Relax and hit the ball a bit easier, you will hit more pure shots that way, and your score will look better at the end of the day. Practice regularly, but practice with a purpose. Practice your putting until you get rid of those three putts (well, most of them :-) Practice pitching until you can get at least a good number of your shots into one-putt range.

If that sound's like a lot of work try to learn to get some fun out of the practice. Playing pretty solid bogie golf (scoring around 90) isn't a real long reach for anyone that doesn't have a physical limitation if they will just develop a solid fairly repeatable swing and learn some finesse on order of that needed to work a knife and fork effectively.

My first question would be, do you enjoy playing regardless of your score? It's always good to have a great round and improve, but there will be nights, or seasons even, that challenge your patience. If you are working on your game, there will be periods where things get worse. This is a game you have to love first and foremost, then worry about what you write on the scorecard.

As others have said, find find a teaching pro that can help you. Get both a full swing lesson, and a short game lesson. And, after your lessons, practice with purpose.

Quote:

Posted by Pirate Jim

... Unless I'm very mistaken, it sounds like you are just plain trying to crush the ball in a lot of the instances you report and may not be getting aligned right in others and it isn't working out well at all. That is what's causing silly things to happen like nearly (or not so nearly) missing the ball all together with woods and knocking the ball off in unexpected directions with short irons. Ease up and smooth out your swing. Learn to align you shots. ...

One thing that might help with smoothing: get some plastic wiffle golf balls or limited-distance balls. Spend 15 minutes each evening hitting them in your back yard. I find this useful to build up proper swing tempo, as I find it easy to swing smoothly into the lighter ball.

Also, avoid hitting the 3 iron off the fairway. You need a more mature swing for that. At my club, a 7 HDCP player dumped his long irons (3 and 4) for hybrids.

There are so many reasons why it's important to seek out professional instruction in this game, but, for me, the big one is acknowledging that this is one of the hardest games on the planet to learn, if not the hardest (unless you play polo or something). Why subject yourself to going it alone when there have been generations upon generations of people who have devoted their lives to studying the game? Each decade since its inception hundreds of years ago, a new group of people have come along to help build upon what's been written down before them. Don't try to invent the wheel and build a fire all on your own when cars and lighters already exist out there, somewhere, just waiting for you to find them.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, golfers were resigned to their own talent limitations, and if you didn't have any, you were basically screwed. Nowadays, things have changed, and people know more, but beginners are still in the same boat as those people hundreds of years ago. They lack the knowledge required to improve.

This game will always be something of a struggle on some level, but you can lessen it significantly by standing on the shoulders of those who have come before us. Take what they've learned in their lifetimes and use it to accelerate your own game.

Funny, I'm always in the minority on the lessons thing ... just seems to me there are so many online resources (youtube), everybody's phone has a video camera on it nowdays to video your swing, golf channel with instructional shows on every night, and discussion boards like this ... that it's MUCH EASIER than it ever was to figure out how to swing a golf club properly than it ever was in the past, when all the last generation had was Ben Hogan's book (ok, slight exaggeration, but you get my point). Lessons are fine, but so many people use them as a crutch & don't put in the effort to try and figure it out on their own (my wife is a perfect example of this).

OP - I don't know how old you are, but I can tell you without equivocation that most younger guys just swing too hard - I've seen this time and time again. Just back it down a bit, slow up your backswing so that you're sure it's on plane and where it needs to be - do this until you're making consistent contact and getting the ball flight you want. Then you can ramp it up - if you even need to.

Golf is hard. If you want to improve, you have to take the initiative to try and figure it out using whatever resources are available to you.